Have you seen the latest issues of CIO
Magazine and eWeek? If so, I
have a trivia question for you. What do these two publications have in
common?
The answer is that they both sport an identical ad spanning the two
pages immediately inside the front cover. The ad is for a new notebook
computer which runs a version of the Unix operating system. The
headline of the ad reads, "Sends other Unix boxes to /dev/null." The
picture in the center of the ad depicts a new Apple PowerBook G4.
In the middle of the Aqua interface is an open Unix terminal window.
The ad carries testimonials from seven divergent people, including
David Coursey, Tim O'Reilly and Dr. Michael Cherry, an Associate
Professor in the Department of Genetics at Stanford. All of the
testimonials extol the joys of running Unix on a Mac. Curiously, only
three specifically mention OS X.
For those unfamiliar with either or both of these publications, the
target audience of each magazine is slightly different. CIO Magazine
bills itself as "The Magazine for Information Executives" and is geared
primarily toward (surprise) the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and
other executive managers. Typical content includes articles on
strategy, budget, return on investment (ROI), and management. These
articles are written for the executive who may not have a background or
practical knowledge in Information Technology. You won't find many
"how-to" articles here.
On the other hand, eWeek's target audience is Information Technology
professionals such as IT Managers, Network Engineers and
Administrators, and other "hands-on" IT employees. Typical eWeek
content includes product reviews, industry news, and network security
advice. There will be an occasional overview type article dealing with
management, but these are the exception.
By placing the same ad in both of these publications at the same
time, Apple is covering all their bases. They are hoping to attract the
attention of everyone from the CEO and CIO down to the PC support
technician. This is a bold and presumably expensive move - and it is
exactly the strategy Apple should be using.
The recent introduction of Xserve,
Apple's industrial-strength rackmount server, coupled with Unix-based
OS X on the desktop, makes Apple a logical player in the
enterprise arena.
This is quite a departure for the company which has always portrayed
the Mac as a user-friendly consumer computer for "the rest of us." It
was only 18 years ago that the Mac was introduced in one of the most memorable
television ads of all time, ironically positioned as an
anti-establishment platform alternative to "Big Brother" (read:
IBM).
While Apple's technology should make it an automatic powerhouse in
the enterprise, they must first overcome the practical barrier of
acceptance. When one thinks of workhorse servers, Apple is generally
not the first company that comes to mind. These ads appear to be the
first shots in a war to change that perception.
By targeting executive management with the ad in CIO Magazine, Apple
is taking a page right out of Microsoft's playbook. To understand this
requires a brief history lesson.
In the late 80s and early 90s, IBM and Microsoft embarked on a joint
venture to create an industrial-class network operating system (NOS) in
an attempt to break the stranglehold held by Novell NetWare on this
market. The two companies eventually parted ways without ever
developing the NOS they coveted. IBM took its code base and developed
OS/2, a reliable GUI-based NOS that enjoyed modest success, though it
never gained a significant market share.
Microsoft emerged with a NOS they dubbed Windows NT. Also a
GUI-based NOS, NT was no match for NetWare (or OS/2 for that matter) in
terms of reliability, scalability or robustness. Windows NT was
generally scorned (and worse) by IT professionals.
Unable to make any headway with a frontal assault, Microsoft decided
to come in the back door. They began targeting their marketing directly
to top executives, bypassing the rank and file IT professionals (the
ones who do the actual work) with whom they had enjoyed little success.
Eventually, these executives (again, most with little or no actual IT
knowledge) began issuing technology directives to the IT department.
These directives were based primarily on information the executives
obtained through Microsoft marketing, with little consideration as the
what was the better technology.
While Novell continued to allocate money to research and development
designed to actually produce a better product, Microsoft poured more
and more money into marketing designed merely to convince the consumer
it had a better product. Microsoft's plan was successful, and it was
able to boost sales of its NOS beyond those of NetWare. If current
sales trends continue, Microsoft's installed server base will exceed
that of Novell's in a short time.
For better or worse, Microsoft changed forever the way IT companies
must market to be successful. Rather than just having to convince the
IT guys to buy your product, to be successful a technology company must
now also sell the non-technical Executive management.
Apple apparently realizes this, thus the aforementioned ad. This
advertisement is certainly not designed to sell more Macs to the
already-converted. I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I would
estimate that the number of Mac users who read these two publications
to be extremely low. No, this ad is designed to break new ground for
Apple and represents a bold new direction in its marketing.
Conclusion
I recently read an article reporting coverage of a Unix convention
of some sort. While the details escape me, one paragraph is etched in
my mind. The reporter noted that it was "alarming" how many attendees
this year were carrying iBooks or PowerBooks and using them to run
their beloved Unix. One man's alarm is another man's satisfaction.
Apple is undeniably making inroads among Unix users. Judging from this
ad, Apple apparently believes this is only the beginning. They just may
turn out to be right.
Post Script
Those of us less knowledgeable in Unix might wonder what this ad
means. What exactly is /dev/null? It is a device to which you can
redirect unwanted output. This is a null (non-existent) device
represented by the file null in the directory /dev .
USB Printers and the Linksys Wireless Print Server
Last week's article prompted a suggestion,
sent in by several readers, that one might be able to use a USB to
parallel converter to enable use of USB-only printers with the
parallel-only Linksys wireless print server. Most were enthusiastic
about the possibility; a few believed it might not work. I have not
tried, but if anyone does try it, please let me know how it goes.
Mac Challenge Update
As you read this, the Mac Challenge will be in its final week. I
hope to have the results ready to publish in next week's column. The
official end of the Challenge and my column deadline are uncomfortably
close together, however. If I am not able to present a thorough
analysis by press time, the results will appear the following week.
